Takei challenged presidential candidate Donald Trump to see Allegiance, after Trump’s call to ban Muslims from the United States, and his comment in answer to a question in Time Magazine that he “would have had to be there” to know whether he might have supported the Japanese American wartime imprisonment.

The Week in New York Theater Reviews

Lazarus, the hottest ticket right now in New York, is a startling new musical, featuring 18 songs written by David Bowie (four of them new), a production directed by auteur-du-jour Ivo van Hove that’s a sensory stimulation chamber, and a plot that might as well be from a different planet…..Given the right frame of mind – it helps to be a Bowie fan, and to have seen the movie or read the book – the story is a tantalizing mystery.

One need not be a specialist, however, to enjoy the music – delivered by a terrific band placed behind a glass wall, and sung by a cast (especially Michael C. Hall) as if they had received extensive voice lessons from Bowie himself.

There are three levels in which to take in “Pylade.” On one level, it screams prestige…it is one of six plays written by Pier Paolo Pasolini, who is far better known as an Italian filmmaker…On another level, the play is an allegory of modern politics adapted from the story of Pylades, a figure in Greek mythology… it is difficult to follow the political debate that’s supposedly at the heart of “Pylade” is that the approach the director takes is, um, distracting…The sensuality [and nudity] is the third level in which to take in the play, and which just about crushes the other two levels.

Jackie Hoffman is the only person she knows who’s never until now performed in a production of the musical comedy “Once Upon A Mattress,” the comic retelling of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea that made a star out of Carol Burnett.

“Once Upon A Mattress,” on the other hand, was the very first show in which John Epperson performed as a freshman in college, which helped hook him on musical theater, eventually leading to the creation of his drag persona, Lypsinka.

Jackie Hoffman as Princess Winnifred and Lypsinka as her evil future mother-in-law Queen Aggravain are the main draws for the Transport Group Theater Company’s inspired production of this well-worn musical

Week in New York Theater News

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 coming to Broadway in September starring Josh Groban making his Broadway debut. He is currently learning the accordion to take over the role of Pierre from the musical’s composer Dave Malloy.

The holiday show season has begun. Included in that link is the Broadway Christmas week schedule, and a list of holiday shows — four versions of Nutcracker Suites, four different productions of A Christmas Carol….not all of them suitable for children.